Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. - General Quotes

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The remoter and more general aspects of the law are those which give it universal interest. It is through them that you not only become a great master in your calling, but connect your subject with the universe and catch an echo of the infinite, a glimpse of its unfathomable process, a hint of the universal law.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
I dare say that I have worked off my fundamental formula on you that the chief end of man is to frame general propositions and that no general proposition is worth a damn.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
General propositions do not decide concrete cases. The decision will depend on a judgment or intuition more subtle than any articulate major premise.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
The general rule, at least, is that while property may be regulated to a certain extent, if regulation goes too far it will be recognized as a taking.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Most men think dramatically, not quantitatively, a fact that the rich would be wise to remember more than they do. We are apt to contrast the palace with the hovel, the dinner at Sherry's with the workingman's pail, and never ask how much or realize how little is withdrawn to make the prizes of success. (Subordinate prizes — since the only prize much cared for by the powerful is power. The prize of the general is not a bigger tent, but command.)

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
The chief end of man is to frame general ideas—and…no general idea is worth a damn.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.